Welcome to the South African History Simulation
The goal of this simulation is to gain an understanding of what the anti-apartheid movement looked like here in the United States so that we can prepare for a simulation, where you will be arguing and debating about the proper role of US companies doing business in South Africa during the 1980s. Our simulation will take place at an annual shareholder's meeting for the business of Coca-Cola. Having first entered the South African market in 1930, Coke was one of the businesses that was caught up in the politics of the anti-apartheid movement and whose shareholders demanded that it take a stance on apartheid in South Africa.
The Reverend Jesse Jackson has also begun a grassroots campaign called "PUSH" - People United to Save Humanity, against Coke because of Coke's refusal to sign on to the Sullivan Principles. Read more from the New York Times here.
It's now 1986 and Pepsi, your biggest competitor (but who has a much smaller presence in South Africa) has begun to divest from South Africa completely and supporters want to know what you are going to do.
You will be assigned one of the following roles in this activity:
- Group 1 - A member of the Board of Directors on Coca-Cola
- Group 2 - A shareholder group pushing the Board of Directors to adopt the Sullivan Principles
- Group 3 - Student activists urging the company to divest completely from South Africa
- Group 4 - Shareholders urging the board to stay the course and ignore the calls for boycott and worry about profits
Before this simulation takes place, we will study South African apartheid to understand what you are arguing about and give you ammunition for your simulations. The lessons will proceed as follows:
Day 1 - Notes over South Africa
Day 2 - Do the Pillars of Apartheid assignment. You can find the links to complete this worksheet on the left side of this Michigan State University webpage.
Day 3 - Do the Overcoming Apartheid assignment. You can find the links needed to complete this worksheet on this Michigan State University webpage.
- Watch Invictus -
Day 4 -Download the reading from Tavaana and discuss this as a class in preparation for the simulation.
Day 5 - Assign roles and prepare for the simulation by coming up with brief speeches for your group to give the board when you speak to them. Every group member should speak for 1-2 minutes, presenting your position on the morality of investing in South Africa. If you are a board member, you should prepare by studying your position and reading the articles on your page.
Day 6 - Participate in the simulation. The agenda for this can be downloaded here:
Day 7 - Debrief: What actually happened? Why?
The source for much of the information contained in this simulation is from the following source:
Spivey, J. (2009, July 8). Coke vs. Pepsi: The Cola Wars in South Africa during the Anti-Apartheid Era. Retrieved September 3, 2014, from http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=history_theses